JeffersonMonticello

JeffersonMonticello, commonly known as Monticello, is the primary plantation house of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, located near Charlottesville, Virginia. Monticello is Italian for "little mountain." Jefferson designed the house and began construction in 1768; it was expanded and altered through 1809. The design reflects Jefferson's synthesis of Palladian-inspired neoclassical principles with his own innovations, helping to shape an early American architectural idiom. The house sits on a hilltop with a prominent façade and a central interior sequence organized around a grand hall.

The Monticello landscape includes terraced gardens, a kitchen garden, and a network of outbuildings that formed a working plantation. Jefferson’s architectural and agricultural ideas were documented in his writings and plans, influencing both contemporaries and later designers. The site also preserves the lives of enslaved people who lived and labored at Monticello, including quarters along Mulberry Row and other structures. In the 20th century, the estate was acquired by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which undertook major restoration and preservation efforts and now operates Monticello as a museum and research center.

Monticello was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 as part of the listing "Monticello and the University of Virginia," recognizing its architectural significance and Jefferson’s influence on American political life and landscape design. Today, Monticello serves as a major educational resource, offering tours, exhibitions, and scholarly programs about Jefferson’s life, his innovations in government and architecture, and the plantation system that supported his household.